The Arcata City Council will consider extending the western boundary of the city's amended smoking ordinance to K Street at a future date after hearing an update on the ordinance from police Chief Tom Chapman.

In his report Wednesday night, Chapman told the council that the police department has received complaints about loitering and increased unruly behavior near Safeway, and at the intersections of Ninth and J streets, and 10th and J.

The council also has received a few emails from residents who live in those vicinities stating they have been negatively impacted by the ordinance, which was amended in July to ban smoking on the streets surrounding the Plaza and within 30 feet of businesses and common areas of apartment buildings, excluding designated smoking areas.

"The thinking was to just better define the boundary on that side," Mayor Mark Wheetley said. "If that is already becoming a problem, and that's the pattern, we might as well just go ahead and fix that now versus letting it become a pattern."

While the complaints are prioritized accordingly, and the police department conducts what it believes to be appropriate enforcement, Chapman said, some people are just going to smoke no matter what.

"I think the law is appropriate," he said. "Is the issue more enforcement? No, it's not. It's compliance. It's people voluntarily complying with the rules; people voluntarily complying with the ordinance."

Chapman added he thinks it's appropriate to extend the western boundary to K Street, but needs to give it some more thought.